Fire-extinguisher



UNITED Sparse Parent rrrca.

JOHN M. GIBLIN, OF SHEBOYGAN, IVISCONSIN.

FIRE-EXTINGUISHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 310,888, dated January 20, 1885.

Application filed May 1-2, 1884;

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN M. GrnLrN, of Sheboygan, in the county of Sheboygan, and in the State of Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire Extinguishers; and I- do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to fire-extinguishers; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, all as will be fully set forth herein after.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of my device partly in section, and Fig. 2is a detail sectional View showing the position of the fuse within the cap during storage or shipment.

A represents the outer coneshaped vessel or receptacle, made preferably of earthenware, slightly truncated at the apex of the inverted cone or base proper, a, and with a centrallyextending depression, a, in the broad top, terminating in the neck a, which neck only rises to the height of the said top for convenience in storage or shipment. The said vessel is provided with a handle, A, on one side near the top, and has an exterior groove, a, running entirely around the vessel near the base, and a wire or cord, B, (preferably of rnetah) extends from the said handle down one side to this groove (4, and then runs around in the groove, terminating in a loop, B, on the side and at the end opposite to the handle A.

O is a cork or stopper fitting in the neck a of the vessel, and having a central vertical perforation,c,to receive the upper end or tube, d,of a glass flask or receptacle, D, for powder or other explosive agent.

IE is a wick or fuse, one end of which is in thelower part of the receptacle D, surrounded by the explosive agent, and which fuse then passes up through the tube (1 of the vessel D.

F is a metallic cap which fits tightly over the neck a and which has a perforation, f, in its top to permit the fuse to pass up through it in use, which fuse may then hang down be low the vessel A when the device is suspended upon the walls of a building, but which fuse may be folded upon the top of the cork 0 within the cap F for storage or shipment, as shown in Fig. 2.

I partially fill the vessel A with aqua-am- (No model.)

| monia or other liquid alkali, G, together with sulphurous oxide held by said alkali, or with sulphurous-oxide gas reduced to a liquid form by cold and pressure. The sulphurous oxide and ammonium hydrate have such a feeble affinity for each other that when thrown upon a fire orsubjected to its heat the sulphurous oxide is liberated and rapidly unites with the oxygen ofthe air, converting the sulphurous oxide into sulphuric oxide. The oxygen of the air being thus taken up by the sulphurous oxide, the fire is instantly extinguished for want of oxygen to support it.

I prepare the fire-extinguishing compound as follows: I generate the sulphurous oxide by burning stick sulphur or flowers of sulphur in a suitable furnace, and forcing the resulting gas through a coil of lead pipe surrounded by ice to reduce the temperature of the gas. then conduct the cooled gas, by any suitable means, into the vessel A, into which I have previously put aqua-ammonia or other liquid alkali, until the liquid is thoroughly saturated with the sulphurous oxide. The aqua-ammonia, when the temperature ofthe sulphurous oxide is properly reduced, is capable of taking from one thousand to fifteen hundred times its own volume of sulphurous oxide. \Vhen the aqua-ammonia in the vessel A has been thoroughly charged or saturated with the sulphurous oxide, the said vessel is tightly closed with the cork 0, containing the vessel D and fuse E, and the latter folded up, as described, on top of the cork, and the metallic cap F slipped over the neck of the vessel A, and the device is ready for shipment.

If I desire to use simply the sulphurous oxide without the alkali, I generate the gas as before described, draw it through a long coil of lead or glass pipe surrounded by pounded ice, and then, by means of an air force-pump, I force the sul ph urous oxide into the empty vessel A until the gas is reduced to a liquid, when the vessel A is closed, as before described.

To use the extinguisher by throwing it upon a fire I remove the cap F and simply throwthe vessel A into the flames. By reason of its shape it remains wherever thrown without rolling about, and the fuse (which is preferably what is known as a quick fuse) in stantly ignites and communicates with the explosive agent in the vessel D, causing an ex- LII plosion,which breaks the vessel A and seatters and throws its contents upon the fire in all directions, instantly extinguishing the same. 1

By reason of the handle Aandloop B, I am enabled to handle my device with great ease, and these parts A and B are placed at the most convenient parts of the device for throwing the same, being not only at opposite ends,but also at opposite sides, and hence, in whatever position the device may be, it always presents a handle to the user.

A very valuable feature of my device is its adaptability for automatic operation, and hence forextinguishing fire in a building when there is'no one present to assist in putting out the fire or to throw the extinguisher. By suspending a number of the devices about the walls of a room and permitting the fuse to hang down, as shown in Fig. 1, should fire break out anywhere in the said room the fuse will quickly ignite and carry the sparks into the powder-vessel D,as before described,causing the explosion of the device and the diffu sion of its contents, which act, as stated, not by simply displacing the oxygen of the air, but by taking it up.

As the result of a long series of experiments, I have found that it is possible to extinguish a fire in an ordinary room or building when it is one mass of flames by throwing into the room or building two or three of these extinguishers, each containing a quart of the mixture, or by using a singlevessel of much smaller proportions containing the liquefied gas of sulphurous oxide.

\Vhen I use aqua --ammonia in my extinguisher, the gas is absorbed without pressure by the aqua-ammonia, and consequently there is little liability of breakage; and my extinguishers may be used, moved, and handled with safety.

1. 111 a fire-extinguisher, the combination of the outer vessel, A, of inverted-cone shape, having its upper surface deflected or inclined toward the center, and there provided with a neck rising only as high as the outer edge of the top, and provided with the cap F, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the outer vessel with neck a, apertured cork O, receptacle D, with tube d, sustained within the aperture of the cork, and fuse E, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the outer vessel with neck a", cork O, receptacle D, fuse E, and cap F, having hole f, substantially asset forth.

4. The combination of the outer vessel having handle A on one side near the top, and exterior groove, a, near the bottom, with the wire or cord B, extending from the handle down one side to the groove and then around in said groove and terminating in the loop B on the side and at the end oppositeto the handle A, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Visconsiu, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN M. GIBLIN.

W'itnesses:

H. G. UNDERWOOD, M. J. Foasvrrrn. 

